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Linking Past and Present in Nuremberg

Hausbrauerei Altstadthof, which serves a malty red beer that used to be synonymous with Nuremberg.Credit
Russ Juskalian for The New York Times

“This will be easy to see,” said Annelise, our guide, flipping off the lights in the chilly sandstone beer cellar that had been converted to an air-raid shelter during World War II. A small plaque on the wall glowed with electric-lime phosphorescence. It was, she told us, an emergency exit sign for the 50,000 civilians who had fled — two to a square meter — to these cellars-cum-bunkers during Allied firebombings.

The sign was a small but poignant reminder of how hundreds of years of beer brewing in Nuremberg — a city that was 90 percent destroyed during the war — linked past and present.

Just over an hour by direct train from Munich, Nuremberg (population 510,000) is Bavaria’s often-overlooked second city. Of course, the locals say Bavaria has little to do with the place; a greater allegiance is owed to the smaller administrative district of Middle Franconia, which has its own dialect, history and cuisine. Not to mention beer.

Many outsiders think of Nuremberg only in terms of its World War II significance. This was where Hitler spoke at huge rallies throughout the 1930s — one of which, in 1934, was recorded for the propaganda film “Triumph of the Will” — and where the military tribunals of Nazis were held after the fighting ended.

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A walk through Nuremberg's old town reveals cobblestone streets and half-timber buildings.Credit
Russ Juskalian for The New York Times

But the city has much more to offer than somber history, including a magnificent Holy Roman Empire-era castle; a rich brewing and beer tradition; perhaps the best gingerbread in the world; and, if you happen to visit in December, Germany’s most celebrated Christmas market.

A good place to begin is underground. Starting more than 700 years ago, local breweries were required to maintain extensive cellars for brewing the low-temperature-loving, bottom-fermenting lagers favored in the region, and those cellars currently cover over six acres snaking beneath much of the old city center.

The combination of brewing’s connection to the religious powers of the Holy Roman Empire, the city’s easily excavated sandstone layers and beer’s relative safety compared with water allowed the beverage to thrive here. Until the 1600s, “everyone drank the beer, even small children,” Annelise told us on the hourlong tour we took on a recent afternoon.

With the widespread adoption of refrigeration in the late 19th century, the brewers no longer needed the cool sandstone cellars, which were taken over by the pickling industry. Then came World War II, and the cellars, some up to 80 feet deep, were connected by narrow tunnels into a spider-web network of hide-outs, complete with ventilation systems, hidden escape routes and fortified entrances. Art and stained glass windows from the nearby churches survived in these makeshift bunkers, too.

After the tour, head to the dark wood and copper-accented Hausbrauerei Altstadthof to sample the brewpub’s food and drink, including a few varieties of the malty red beer that used to be synonymous with Nuremberg — which you’ll find nowhere else today. Or try a single malt whiskey or bierbrand (a liquor made from distilling beer) fresh from aging in the cellars you just visited.

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Working a sausage stand in central Nuremberg.Credit
Russ Juskalian for The New York Times

Nuremberg’s compact old town is beautifully reconstructed in medieval half-timbered style, and it is filled with museums and museumlike antiques shops. Highlights include the home of the 16th-century artist Albrecht Dürer, with a free audio guide narrated by an actress playing his wife. No matter what your age, don’t miss the Toy Museum, with exhibits on the craft- and engineering-based toys that Nuremberg has long had a reputation for, including a fascinating display on German children’s toys of the 1930s and 1940s. At the City Museum Fembohaus, the star exhibition is the Renaissance-era merchant’s home that houses the museum. And the tiny executioner’s house reveals the day-to-day life of the city executioner of 1600, Franz Schmidt, built into a bridge over the Pegnitz River, which flows through town.

Or go for a leisurely walk around the castle district, on the northern edge of the old town, meandering along cobblestone streets beneath the old city walls. Overlooking Nuremberg from a small hill, the castle itself — a stone and half-timbered redoubt made up of a number of separate buildings and iconic towers, some dating to at least the 13th century — reminded me of a modest version of the castle in Prague.

Nuremberg is home to the former Third Reich rally grounds, designed by the architect Albert Speer, where hundreds of thousands of Nazis and spectators came to see Hitler speak in huge propaganda events. Not much remains of the few structures that were actually built, but it’s just a short bus ride out of the city center to see those forceful reminders of a terrible time: the crumbling ruins of the Zeppelinfeld, an open space with grandstands, and the Kongresshalle, the Colosseum-like Nazi Congress center.

Today, the Kongresshalle stands in a poor state of repair, except for its head buildings — the serif-like blocks at the top of the U-shaped complex — which house the Nuremberg Symphony and Documentation Center Nazi Party Rally Grounds. The documentation center is a museum that charts the mythology and propaganda that facilitated Hitler’s rise.

When I visited, it was unnerving walking around the nearly empty grounds. But the museum, which is reimagined with metal and glass at Escheresque angles, is a complete counterpoint to the blockiness of the Third Reich’s original vision. Nonetheless, I was happy to move on to lighter experiences.

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A castle overlooks the city.Credit
Russ Juskalian for The New York Times

These included sampling Nuremberg’s famous culinary treats: Nürnberger bratwurst and Nürnberger lebkuchen. These foods are protected under European Union law, meaning they can’t be labeled “Nürnberger” unless produced within the region using traditional means.

Short and thin — about “the size of a finger,” in the words of one waitress — the Nürnberger bratwurst is a sausage often served three to a bun (drei im weggla). Some of the best I had came from open-air grill stands. But also consider heading to Historische Bratwurstküche zum Gulden Stern, a half-timbered restaurant that claims to be the oldest sausage kitchen in the world, and try Nürnberger Bratwurst on a plate of pungent sauerkraut cooked over a beechwood fire (7.20 euros for 6, or $9 at $1.26 to the euro; 12.30 euros for 12).

Lebkuchen is a type of gingerbread made with ground hazelnuts, almonds and walnuts, sweetened with honey, and spiced with cloves, ginger and cardamom. The most decadent, called Elisenlebkuchen, is made without flour. There are bakeries all over town selling lebkuchen, but some of the best comes from the Düll family and cost around 9.50 euros for a small bag.

Central Nuremberg has plenty of accessible restaurants and beer halls that are authentic in style and selection. But I found the food uninspiring and the servers a bit world-weary. However, search a little deeper, or try the places tucked into the small side streets, and there are local culinary treasures to be found.

Schäufelewärtschaft, for instance, is the kind of place that alone makes Nuremberg worth visiting. The simple wood tables, the beer of the day and the bucolic photos on the wall of inquisitive-looking pigs peering at the diners below cast a country-kitchen aura of whimsy.

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A view of the Pegnitz River, which flows through town.Credit
Russ Juskalian for The New York Times

The namesake dish, schäufele, a Franconian specialty of roasted pork shoulder, was like a geological cutaway: lighter meat striated with fat sitting below, and barely clinging onto, a submerging tectonic plate of scapula; followed above the bone by a darker, denser meat layer deposited with veins of slow-cook-induced fat-turned-jelly; capped by an inch of pure pork-fat crust. Served with a fist-size potato dumpling (9.50 euros), sitting in a pool of red-brown beer-and-pork stock, it made this eater — well versed in the ways of southern German cooking — almost giddy.

That this dish is so delectable makes sense. The restaurant was opened by a club of 36 pork-lovers in 2005, whose name translated to English is Friends of the Franconian Schäufele.

Night life in Nuremberg takes place in the beer halls and stüberl, or pubs, which are liberally sprinkled around the city center. Local cocktail lovers squeeze into fashionable clothes and then into the small, shiny Bar Nuernberg. On the other end of the spectrum is the gritty and even smaller Kloster, which is explicitly welcoming to anyone who isn’t racist, homophobic or sexist; it’s part kitsch, with a dark interior decorated by religious paintings and sculptures, and a twist of modern gothic.

And if sipping a beer, snacking on pinkie-size sausages in a roll and standing in the center of a medieval city under the stars — with the nearby castle illuminated for display — doesn’t transport you to another time, I’m not sure what will.

IF YOU GO

Trains leave Munich central station regularly throughout the day headed to Nuremberg. The direct InterCity Express service will take just over an hour for 54 euros, or about $68 at $1.26 to the euro, per person.

WHERE TO STAY

There are dozens of hotels within walking distance of Nuremberg’s old town.

Hotel Drei Raben (Königstrasse 63, 49-911-274380, hoteldreiraben.de/english/index.html) is regularly voted one of the best hotels in Germany. Its quirky, boutique design includes 22 individually themed doubles and suites based on different figures, myths and stories from Nuremberg’s history. Prices start at around 150 euros for a double, including free Wi-Fi and breakfast buffet, but vary widely during peak dates.

Gideon Hotel (Königstrasse 45, 49-911-6600970, gideonhotels.de) is a simple, modern choice in the heart of the pedestrian zone of the city. Clean and bright, and decorated with minimalistic-style furniture, the hotel recently listed rooms starting at 89 euros per night, including free Wi-Fi.

A version of this article appears in print on March 24, 2013, on Page TR9 of the New York edition with the headline: Linking Past and Present in Bavaria. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe